5/3/1 Forever was released a few months ago to much excitement, and I’ve had time to read through it and formulate a few thoughts, for those that are still on the fence about if you should add it to your library.
Some background about me:
-I have read every single 5/3/1 book so far (First and Second Edition, Powerlifting, and Beyond). I have also read through every blogpost Jim has posted, and a LOT of what he has written on his t-nation forum. I am, however, NOT a member of his private forum. I share all this so that you know what my familiarity was with the entire 5/3/1 program before reading the book. I cannot speak to the experience someone brand new to 5/3/1 would have reading this book, nor can I say if it gives you everything you need to run 5/3/1, because I didn’t walk into this blind, and I could “fill in the gaps” for anything not explicitly stated. If possible, it behooves you to educate yourself as much as possible before reading.
Quick Summary of the book:
-The book is in 3 sections. The first section provides the basic philosophy behind 5/3/1, along with explaining the 7 week protocol, leaders and anchors. Those last 2 points are pretty crucial to understanding how to run Jim’s programs, and up until this point were only available on Jim’s private forum. The rest of section one details running the supplemental and assistance work, jumps, throws, and warm-ups.
-Section 3 is all about programming conditioning and recovery. This includes some basic nutritional advice, along with ideas for what to do for conditioning and how to program it without overtaxing your recovery.
-Section 2 contains 50 different 5/3/1 programs. That isn’t hyperbole. Before each program is a quick synopsis of what the program is for (strength, size, etc) and who is ideal to run it.
The Good:
-If you are a fan of Jim’s ramblings on training, he interjects little bits of this through-out the book. I actually found this kept it from being too dry, and compelled me to read through some of the more detailed sections. However, I know some people get rubbed raw by this, so be aware.
-You finally have all of Jim’s thoughts compiled in one location. Prior to this book’s release, you had to piece together little bits of thoughts Jim shared on his forum, his blog, t-nation, facebook and his books to be able to get an idea of where is programming was. Now, it’s all laid down in one location.
-Lots of different programming options. 2, 3, 4 day lifting programs, lots of different conditioning protocols, etc. You’re bound to find something.
-The legendary Krypteria program is contained here. No more mystery.
The bad:
-Nonsensical organization of programming. Section 2 is pretty much the wildwest, and reading it cover to cover doesn’t really set you up for success if you’re new to 5/3/1.
-No description of how to perform the exercises. Jim had this in the first edition, but has since scrapped it. In fairness, that’s not what this book is about, but it takes away from the ability to just throw it at a trainee and say “read this and you’re set”. There still needs to be SOME background knowledge.
-Not a lot of variety of training movements. Jim really sticks with his 4 big movements these days, and most of his programming revolves around manipulating volume and intensity for these movements. However, he leaves assistance work pretty open to the user, so you’ve got that.
Should you buy it?
One thing I never understood is why someone as popular as Wendler seemed to insist on publishing himself. The guy is great, but he desperately needs an editor just in terms of getting his organization together (and at least in other books, making sure there is no directly contradictory stuff within the same book)
ReplyDeleteI suspect its because (at least when you've got a name in the field) self-publishing is vastly more profitable than going through an established publisher and simply hiring an editor isn't cheap either (especially as you need to find someone who understands both editing and the subject in question). I don't know how many copies of 5/3/1 Forever he expects to sell but if its a fairly marginal product - and the more products in a line you have, the more sales tend to drop - shelling out for an editor can pretty quickly drop it from profitable into money sink status.
DeleteYeah, I imagine this is most likely the issue. That, and I imagine demand for a publisher is probably low in all reality. Yeah, we get upset with the grammatical errors and lack of organization, but I imagine the people that are going to buy the book are going to buy it regardless. He's probably losing very few customers from the book being poorly organized.
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ReplyDeleteGlad I found this... been debating if I should get it since I have all of his other stuff. Did you find the info better with higher value than Beyond 5/3/1 ( Im just assuming you have read it)
ReplyDeleteOh damn, I have no idea why your comment didn't show up in my e-mail. Sorry to leave you hanging dude. I know you ended up buying it, so glad it all worked out.
DeleteI just picked up this book and after reading through it, I Googled for others' thoughts on it. It's a total mess. I'm a 5/3/1 fanboy, and have run it as the crux of most of my training for probably 10 years now.
ReplyDeleteBut this book is just a disaster. The actual content is great, but the explanations (or lack thereof), the layout, the shoddy organization, the lack of a Table of Contents or Index....it's just a total slog.
I'm just glad to see it's not just me. Jim doesn't even need a professional editor. He could just have someone take a look at it before he publishes. There's some really obvious and easy fixes that could make this book more user-friendly.